A21 road
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The A21 is one of the primary routes having two digits in the south-east of England. It takes traffic from London to Hastings, East Sussex. Parts of the route follow the turnpike opened in 1710 from Sevenoaks to Tunbridge Wells; other sections of the road were similarly dealt with later in the century.
The road between the M25 and Hastings is designated a trunk road, and is maintained and managed by the Highways Agency.
[edit] The route
- Traffic from London initially uses the A20 road; it enters the A21 proper in Lewisham (Loampit Vale Junction). From there the road uses Molesworth Street; Lewisham High Street; and Rushey Green, Catford, where the South Circular Road (A205) leaves to the west; it runs south east into Bromley Road, followed by Bromley Hill. Here the road enters the London Borough of Bromley
- Having negotiated the gyratory sytem through and past the centre of Bromley (part of which is called Kentish Way), the road ascends Masons Hill to Bromley Common; 1.3 miles (2km) later it throws off the A233 road to Westerham and becomes, in turn, Hastings Road; at Locksbottom, Farnborough Common; and The Green
- At this point the bypass for High Street, Farnborough begins): Farnborough Way.
- Now the A223 enters from the north from Orpington, and A21 is the Sevenoaks Road, a name it retains until Knockholt at Hewitts Roundabout where it is joined by the Orpington Bypass - A224 - from the north; where the road enters Kent near its junction with the M25 motorway. The road now becomes a dual carriageway but for a short distance loses its identity: the A224 usurps it.
- At this point the erstwhile A21 climbed to the top of the North Downs at Polhill, and then descended through Dunton Green and Sevenoaks; on through Hildenborough to Tonbridge (the London Road at the north of the town is now the B245), where it crosses the River Medway; and reaches a junction to the south of the town with the
- "New" A21: the Sevenoaks and Tonbridge Bypasses. This road is two-lane dual carriageway, and has junction with the M25 and the A25 near Chevening and with the cross-county A26 south of Tonbridge.
- South of Tonbridge, the A21 becomes a single carriageway for two miles until the three-mile long Pembury dual carriageway bypass. Plans to dual the section between the Tonbridge and Pembury bypasses have been put off many times, despite the severe congestion and high accident rates; however, funding was allocated to the scheme in July 2006.
- From the southern end of the bypass, at Kippings Cross the final 25 miles (40km) of the A21 is generally a single carriageway, often winding, road with several steep gradients across the Weald. There are few major centres of habitation and the road has remained a "poor relation" insofar as widening schemes are concerned. Press reports such as this are commonplace. In October 2005 the "Preferred Route" to deal with the 3 mile (4.75km)section south of Kippings Cross was announced :see details here. Two recently-completed schemes are described below.
- The Lamberhurst bypass, was opened on 23 March 2005. Here the road had steep inclines into a river valley. Included in the scheme is a "land bridge" at Scotney Castle. Details are here.
- Bewl Water and the Bedgebury Pinetum flank the road before the two-mile (3km) Flimwell bypass. This has recently been reduced to one lane in each direction to reduce speeding.
- Salehurst: here the Robertsbridge Bypass begins, taking traffic away from the town.
- Plans have been published (see here) for a new road between the southern end of the Flimwell bypass and the beginning of the Robertsbridge Bypass. This would bypass Hurst Green.
- At John's Cross the original route of the A21 passed through Battle: the road is now the A2100. The present route takes the road to the east on a relatively straight, though undulating, journey, bypassing Sedlescombe to enter Hastings under a road bridge through Silverhill and St Leonards on Sea.
[edit] See also
Great Britain road numbering scheme
[edit] External links
| Image:UK road A2.PNG | A roads in Zone 2 of the Great Britain road numbering system | |
|---|---|---|
| A2 | A20 - A21 - A22 - A23 - A24 - A25 - A26 - A27 - A28 - A29 | |
| A201 - A202 - A203 - A205 - A210 - A212 - A214 - A217 - A219 - A228 - A229 | ||
| A232 - A234 - A240 - A249 - A259 - A264 - A272 - A281 - A282 - A299 | ||
| A2030 - A2216 - A2217 | ||
| List of A roads in Zone 2 | ||
